A professional’s Charter right to freedom of expression falls short against his professional obligations in protecting him from undergoing mandatory training to remediate his public statements

20. October 2023 0
Ontario Superior Court of Justice finds College Committee appropriately balanced Dr. Peterson’s Charter right to freedom of expression and his professional obligations as a regulated member of the College of Psychologists of Ontario in its decision to order Dr. Peterson to engage in remedial activity following him making public statements that may be degrading, demeaning ...

No harm, no foul. Where a breach of procedural fairness has been established, the Court will not find there was a reviewable error unless the breach affected the outcome

22. February 2022 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – College of Physicians and Surgeons – Judicial review – Investigations – Procedural requirements and fairness – Standard of review – Reasonableness – Abuse of process – Physicians and surgeons – Competence – Records – Training requirements Al-Kazely v. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, [2022] O.J. No. 32, ...

The decision of an examining board failed to clearly consider the applicant’s health concerns following a failed assessment

16. June 2020 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Dental Board Association and College – Failure to provide reasons – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness – Dentist – Training requirements Mattar v. National Dental Examining Board of Canada, [2020] O.J. No. 779, 2020 ONSC 403, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, February 24, 2020, C.D. Aitken, ...

The Charter and Nova Scotia Human Rights Act do not apply to Trinity Western University, a private university operating in British Columbia.

27. September 2016 0
An application for judicial review of the Barristers’ Society’s decisions to (1) conditionally approve law school graduates from Trinity Western University (TWU) for articles, so long as TWU changed its Covenant or exempted law students from it, and (2) deny graduates articles in Nova Scotia if their law degrees came from a university that discriminated ...

Examination and experience standards used by professional association admitting foreign graduates were not found discriminatory

21. March 2016 0
An Alberta Human Rights Tribunal found that the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (the “Association”) discriminated against Mr. Mihaly, a Czechoslovakian educated engineer, by requiring him to write examinations to confirm his academic credentials and failing to recognize his education as equivalent to an engineering degree from an accredited university. The tribunal ...

Application to become a fully licensed psychologist was denied for lack of evidence of supervised work experience

22. February 2016 0
The Minister’s decision to deny the appellant’s application to become a fully licensed psychologist was upheld as reasonable because the appellant had not provided sufficient paperwork with her application for licensure to demonstrate she had met supervision criteria which was clearly required in order for her to become fully licensed. Administrative law – Decisions of ...

A registered nurse (“Heffel”) was unsuccessful on appeal to the Northwest Territories Supreme Court from a decision of the Board of Inquiry under the Nursing Profession Act

23. June 2015 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Registered Nurses Association – Nurses – Disciplinary proceedings – Professional misconduct or conduct unbecoming – Penalties – Training requirements – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter – Evidence – Bias Heffel v. Registered Nurses Assn., [2015] N.W.T.J. No. 22, 2015 NWTSC 16, Northwest Territories ...

Lawyer was suspended after not satisfying Law Society’s requirement to complete 12 CPD hours per year. Lawyer challenged the validity of the CPD rules on the basis that the Law Society did not have authority to enact the mandatory rules, and the rules violate the rules of natural justice because they give the Law Society the authority to enact a suspension without a hearing or right of appeal. The court was satisfied that the powers set out in the Legal Profession Act are broad enough to allow for the creation of a mandatory CPD program, and held that the rules, with the penalty of a suspension, are procedurally proportionate to the gravity of the non-compliance offence. The court found that a disciplinary hearing process, such as the kind that accompanies allegations of professional misconduct, is not necessary in CPD non-compliance matters, and that the lack of a hearing and right of appeal do not constitute breaches of the procedural fairness rules.

24. February 2015 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Law Societies – Powers under legislation – Self-governing professions – Rules and by-laws – Barristers and solicitors – Training requirements – Continuing Professional Development – Disciplinary proceedings – Penalties – Public interest – Judicial review – Procedural requirements and fairness – Natural justice Green v. Law Society ...

The appellant registered nurse was denied registration as a Nurse Practitioner by the Registration Committee of the College of Nurses of Ontario (the “Registration Committee”), on the basis that she had failed written examinations on three occasions and there was no discretion to afford a fourth attempt. The appellant applied for review of the Registration Committee’s decision to the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board (the “Board”) which affirmed the Registration Committee’s decision. The appellant then appealed the Board’s decision to the Court, which dismissed her appeal, finding that the Board’s decision was reasonable, and there was no evidence before it upon which they could have found the examination to be unfair to the applicant because of its American content or the stress created by having to write the examination. What was before the Board was little more than a bare allegation of unfairness advanced by the appellant.

25. February 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – College of Nurses – Nurses – Governance – Permits and licences – Competence – Training requirements – Fairness – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter – Evidence Al Baba v. College of Nurses of Ontario, [2013] O.J. No. 5392, 2013 ONSC 7335, Ontario Superior ...

Judicial review application to set aside decisions of university nursing program and university appeal board denying request to retake practicum program

24. December 2013 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – University Appeal Board – Nurses – Professional governance and discipline – Training requirements – Attempt – definition – Universities – Students – Evaluation – Judicial review – Applications Chen v. University of Saskatchewan, [2013] S.J. No. 655, 2013 SKQB 367, Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, October 8, ...